The Dutiful Dwight
by HarleyD
Summary: After "The Fight" a fairly down trodden Dwight is comforted by Jim. Michael never makes up with Dwight, leading Jim to offer to be Dwight's emergency contact and possibly getting into more than he bargained for. Spoilers "The Fight". Pairing:Nothing yet, possibly Jim/Dwight, maybe mentions of Dwight/Michael in the past, some Dwight/Angela flirting. Who knows with Dwight.
1. Chapter 1

**Title: **The Dutiful Dwight

**Spoilers: ** Through "The Fight" especially, to start.

**Rating: ** Mild now, but possibly more in later chapters. I just have no idea what Dwight is going to do to be honest.

**Pairing:** Nothing yet, but possibly Jim/Dwight, maybe mentions of some kind of Dwight/Michael in the past, …. Dwight has very odd relationships / behavior for a grown heterosexual male so I'm honestly not sure what he is going to do. Maybe mentions of Dwight/Angela too. At least flirting.

**Summary**: After "The Fight" a fairly down trodden Dwight is comforted by Jim. Michael never makes up with Dwight, leading Jim to offer to be Dwight's emergency contact and possibly getting into more than he bargained for.

* * *

"Jim… is he… is he crying?"

It took a few times before he could talk, still trying to smother his laughter from watching Michael however clumsily beat the crap out of Dwight. The man in question was standing against the building, facing away from them, while they waited to head back to the Office. Now that he was looking he could see Dwight's shoulders shaking and his laughter eased off. "Maybe?"

"Go talk to him."

"Come on." He rolled his eyes, "I'm sure he's fine."

They watched him scrub his arm across face, though their attention was distracted by Michael doing a couple kicks in the air.

"Yea, I had to kick his ass. Sometimes people just need to be put in their place."

Jim's gaze slid back to Dwight who had stiffened at Michael's comments and yea, he was starting to feel a little bad for him. "Okay, okay."

"Do you want me to go with you?"

"No, no, I got this."

He headed in Dwight's direction, speaking up when he got closer, "Hey, Dwight, you okay?"

"I'm fine." His voice was squeaky, struggling to calm himself.

He waited for more but when none was forthcoming he moved around so he could see his face. It was an expression that he was actually fairly familiar with, Dwight's face was red, eyes down, hair messy. It was how he generally looked after Michael was particularly cruel, and it was a little unsettling when Jim realized how often he really saw it. The black eye was not usual and Jim felt his mouth twist. "Hey, really, are you okay?"

"He didn't… he didn't fight fair." He realized Jim was looking at him and he turned further away so he was nearly facing the wall. "He didn't have to …" He trailed off but Jim knew exactly what he meant, he had been beaten but Michael had done nothing short of bullying.

Jim gave the camera a look and reached forward to touch his arm, and he didn't have to work hard to sound sympathetic. In that moment Dwight looked every inch like those kids bullied in high school and yea Jim liked to pick on him but he had never made him cry. "Hey, don't feel bad, I mean-"

They both jumped when Michael appeared by them, loud and obnoxious as he reached out and punched Dwight's arm making him flinch. "Come on ya wuss, back to work!" He was grinning and moved forward, bouncing on his feet and air boxing with whoever got close to him.

He responded by crossing his arms tight across his chest, ducking his head down and now he was crying enough to make noise. Michael called back, "Come on Dwight, you riding with me?"

He started to move forward obediently but Jim grabbed his arm and called out to Michael, "He's gonna ride with me."

Dwight was shaking his head, "He told me to-"

He pulled him back though, "He just held you down and beat the crap out of you in front of everyone Dwight. It's alright not to listen to him." He paused, struggling, "I mean… do you really want to ride with him?"

"No…" It looked like it pained him to disobey Michael, and he glanced up briefly to meet Jim's eyes, "Thank you."

"No problem Dwight." He led him back to his car, waving off Toby when he went to sit in the front, letting Dwight have it. He got in quick, hoping he could get Dwight acting obnoxious by the time they reached the office. He was still sniffling but everyone riding with Jim was decent enough to ignore it and he reached over Dwight to the glove compartment, opening it and pulling out Kleenex.

He offered them to Dwight without looking, who took them cautiously. There was silence in the car until Toby spoke up, "You need to put ice on that eye."

"My body … my body has super healing."

"Too bad it doesn't have super fighting skills."

Jim met Oscar's eyes in the mirror and gave him a warning look, and he at least had the decency to look sheepish. Dwight hunched in on himself and was momentarily cowed, Michael could have that effect on him.

Out of the corner of his eye he caught Dwight pressing against his eye and wincing and he made a note to make sure that he did put ice on it. He felt kind of responsible for this, he had been the one to push them into it. When the office came into view he expected it to cheer him up but he looked worse and Jim frowned. "Lots of sales calls to make?"

"I guess." He was still pressing against his eye, and maybe it was to hide that he was crying.

They pulled into the parking lot and Jim grabbed Dwight's arm to hold him up while everyone else got out, until it was just the two of them. Sometimes, just sometimes, if he managed to catch Dwight with no one else around he could get him to act almost human. "Let me see."

Dwight didn't ask what he meant or protest he just turned towards him obediently and let him look. Jim couldn't help but shake his head at that, Dwight was so odd. That was one of those things that he just never understood, even in the middle of taking abuse Dwight was inexplicably accommodating.

He turned back to the task at hand, taking a look at Dwight's face. His eye was already swollen and bruised, but his jaw looked swollen too and he flashed back to Michael practically slamming Dwight's face into the mats. "Dwight, why oh why do you let him do this?"

"I didn't let him, Jim." His voice was snippy, like it should have been obvious. "It was a fight and he bested me."

"He's a moron Dwight."

"He isn't a moron. He's a great man."

Jim let out a sigh. "Dwight…" He wanted to say more, to point out how ridiculous he sounded and that he was just being a tool but he just couldn't bring himself to do it. He finally just dropped his hand, "Come on, we'll get some ice."

"I told you I don't need it."

"I'm sure Angela has an ice pack that-"

"Okay."

"Come on just… oh." He was a little thrown by Dwight's sudden agreement. "Okay, good."

Inside Dwight pressed himself into the back of the elevator, still looking pretty down trodden, and Jim normally would have avoided him but he chalked it up to lingering guilt over causing it. When the elevator doors opened Dwight waited until everyone else had left before heading out, going straight to his desk even avoiding Michael when he tried to talk to him.

"Dwight?"

Jim moved between them pushing Michael backwards towards his office, "I'm getting him an ice pack. Don't you have work to do?"

Michael let himself be pushed back, though he did actually look concerned when he glanced at Dwight. "Ice?"

"I've got it."

Finally he did just that, going back to his office and by the time Jim turned around Angela was already at Dwight's desk, holding an ice pack to his face, one hand on his shoulder. Angela was eyeing him pretty intensely and Jim threw a glance to Pam about it but she still wasn't looking at him, so instead he raised an eyebrow at the camera.

Under the scrutiny Angela glanced at the camera and abruptly left, leaving Dwight to scramble to hold the ice pack himself. He watched her go, maybe just a moment too long, before shyly looking at the camera and looking down. He held the pack with his left hand and tried to pick up his phone, realizing he normally held it up to his right ear and there was an awkward shuffle as he tried to move the phone and hold the ice pack and Jim could only watch with an amused look.

The phone fell and Dwight grabbed it, trying to hold it up to his left ear and holding the phone with his opposite hand, nearly tangling himself in the cord and Jim felt his eyes widening in awe, and shook his head. "Dwight, you got everything under control?"

He frowned at him, "Yes."

It went on for a few more painful seconds, like a car wreck, before he finally gave up and hung up the phone, setting the ice pack on the desk. He went to grab the phone but Jim made a tutting sound, "Put the ice on."

"I have calls to make and it's-"

"The ice."

"It's in the way-"

"Dwight." He said it in his serious voice, the one that was mocking and Dwight never seemed to get it but it worked.

"Fine, if it means that much to you." He held up the ice again and carefully picked up his phone with the other hand, much simpler the second time around. "But if I don't make sales because it sounds like I'm not talking on my normal side I'm going to blame you."

"That's fine." Over his head he caught Angela watching the interaction but she quickly disappeared.

* * *

"Temp?"

He had been nearly past Dwight's desk and he stepped back and raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to say something. "Yup?"

"I need to change my emergency contact from Michael."

Jim's head popped up at that, making a face, as he listened. He could not think of someone that would be more unreliable for an emergency contact. Ryan came back and looked down at his paperwork, crossing something out. "Who do you want instead?"

It looked like the question might have startled him, like didn't have any plan past that and he thought about it for a moment before slowly answering. "The... Hospital. You can just… just call 911."

Ryan frowned, and looked up at him, "You can't have the hospital be your emergency contact."

He was floundering a little now, and his eyes found Angela but there was a small shake of her head and he looked back, "Uh…"

It was just… sad. Was there really no one else that Dwight could put down? He didn't want to do it but he found himself talking before he could stop it, "You can put me down." Ryan and Dwight both looked to him and he shrugged uncomfortably, "For now, until you… decide. You can put me down."

"I have … so many more people I can put down."

"Well you don't have to if you don't want, I was just offering-"

"You should be sufficient." It was too quick, and Dwight wouldn't meet his eyes and there was the perfect opportunity to mess with him but Jim only nodded.

"Alright, I'll… write him down." Ryan looked at him like he was crazy but he ignored it.

Everything went mostly back to normal, as Jim and really hoped it would, and he tried to settle in. He made his sales calls, planned pranks and kept an eye on Dwight to make sure he kept the ice on, giving him a look every time he took it off.

It was almost time to wrap the day up, and they hadn't seen much from Michael but he was sure to make an appearance before they left. It was unusual that he hadn't flaunted his win, maybe he was finally growing up, but the chances of that were not very good. He was right, of course, right on time Michael came out of his office heading straight for Dwight.

"Hey ya loser! How about a rematch?" He faked a few punches towards him, "Or are you afraid you'll get your butt kicked again?"

Dwight was doing his best to ignore him, staring hard at his screen, "I'm just trying to get my work finished up-"

"Someone's a chicken, chicken chicken chicken! Buk buk buk."

Dwight shifted uncomfortably, obviously embarrassed, but did nothing to defend himself. "I'm just trying to-"

"Are ya gonna cry? Like a big cry baby?"

And then… something horrible happened. Michael kept up the mocking and Dwight finally looked up, and Jim found those pleading eyes on _him_. The look that Dwight normally sent Michael when Jim was teasing him, that ridiculously doting look that a grown man should never have on his face was very suddenly aimed at Jim instead. What had he done?


	2. Chapter 2

"What did you do to him?"

Jim shrugged as they watched Dwight from the receptionist desk. He was slowly, meticulously, cleaning up from the latest prank Jim had played on him.

The prank had gone fine, the problem was his reaction. Jim had waited a few weeks before trying anything, waiting until Dwight had stopped sulking, had stopped staring at him like he was waiting to be told what to do. His prank had been less vicious that usual, even Pam had pointed it out, but he just couldn't bring himself to do more. All he had done was turn the drawer upside down, not even all of them.

Dwight had come in, mumbling a hello to Pam and glancing sideways at Jim before nodding hello.

"Morning Dwight."

He had looked suspicious at that and Jim wondered if he had a tone when he was playing a prank. He had watched for a moment and then turned on his computer and unlocked his top drawer pulling it out.

It had been instantaneous, pencils, pens and paper clips spilling out in a crash. Loud and sudden but ultimately harmless. He waited for the anger, for the yelling and red face, the reaction from Dwight that made it worth it but he only stared for a moment, a flash of hurt on his face as his eyes darted up to meet Jim's, "You?"

He gave him his best innocent look and shook his head but his words felt forced, "Maybe you put it back that way and forgot?"

Dwight watched him for a moment longer, glancing around the room at the people chuckling and slid down to the ground to start picking his stuff up. His face twisted into a half grimace, half smile and there was a startlingly loud forced laugh from him. "That's… good one Jim." He righted the drawer and went about straightening it, adding into the ground, "It was really funny." There was more forced laughter with this terrible hurt edge to it, and Jim was too stunned to do anything but watch.

After a long moment of silence he finally snapped out of it, "Uh… yea… want me to help-"

His tone was complacent, quick to answer, "No, no, I got it."

Finally he looked to Pam, sure his face matched the look on hers and he sprung to his feet to go talk to her. Which was where they found themselves now, and he hated to ask but he couldn't help it.

"Was that… was that exactly how he sounds when Michael makes him the butt of the joke?"

"I think so Jim. Seriously, what did you do to him?"

"Nothing." He was embarrassed by it so he hadn't mentioned it before, "I just… after they fought I offered to be his emergency contact."

"Why… why would you do that?"

"He took Michael off and replaced him with the hospital. The hospital, Pam." He rolled his shoulders, uncomfortable, "I don't know. What if something really did happen to him? Even with Michael as his emergency contact there probably wouldn't be anyone showing up."

"Aw, Jim. You like him." Her eyes were sparkling, laughing at him.

"No. No it's not that, I just… Michael was giving him a hard time and I stood up for him. I mean, it can't be the first time someone stood up for him."

Pam shrugged and gave him a meaningful look, "Or maybe it could be."

"So what do I do?"

His only response was a shake of her head. "It's obviously a great opportunity to mess with him but…" She trailed off as they both watched him crawling around on the floor trying to find everything and Pam weakly finished, "Seems kind of cruel though."

At that moment Dwight tried to back out from under his desk and stand up but he misjudged it, banging his head on the underside and sending his keyboard falling to the ground. He had let out a fairly undignified yelp but only glanced around sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head, going back to what he was doing. They shared a look for a long moment until Jim made an annoyed sound and headed back to their desks. He knelt down next to Dwight and helped him pick up the paperclips, "I'm sorry."

Dwight looked surprised but quickly looked back down at the ground. "S'fine. It was funny."

He rocked to his feet and held out his hand to help Dwight up and waited until he met his eyes. "No. I'm sorry."

Michael regretted what he did sometimes but he never apologized and Dwight felt his face flush. "Okay." Not the right answer but it was all he could manage. The smile was less forced as he sat down and reached out to another drawer. He paused though, looking up to Jim, "Should I open this one too?"

Jim wasn't sure if Dwight was asking if it was upside down too or if he thought it was and wanted to know if Jim wanted him to complete the prank. He really hoped it was the former because otherwise… otherwise it was beyond sad. He nodded, "It was only the one drawer."

"Oh." He looked puzzled for a moment until realization dawned on his face, "Oh." The hurt disappeared as Dwight realized how small a prank it was and he sounded genuinely happy, "Just a friendly prank?"

Embarrassed for some reason by his prank, by something, he could only nod and intentionally avoid looking around the room. Dwight seemed to be waiting for more though so he mumbled out, "Yea, just… just what friends do."

"Dwight! Get in here!"

Michael sounded angry and Dwight's shoulders hunched, but he jumped to his feet instantly, heading towards his office. He looked like a beat down dog. A few days after the fight they had made up, though Jim did notice that Dwight didn't change his emergency contact info back to him. Maybe he acted the same around Michael as he always did and the only difference was that it just didn't seem as funny.

He wasn't sure what motivated him as he reached out to grab Dwight's arm, stopping him, and his voice was serious. "Don't let him push you around, okay?" Pam was giving him a look like she had never seen him before but he didn't let it sway him, he met Dwight's eyes to make sure he was paying attention, "You aren't his dog, don't let him, Dwight."

His eyes darted to the office where Michael was impatiently waiting for him, and he looked nervous, "He's my boss-"

"Yup." He let his arm go when he realized how many people were watching but added, "He's just your boss Dwight. That's all."

He nodded a little at that, "Okay. Okay Jim."

Jim didn't know what he was doing, didn't know _why_ he was doing it. Dwight's body posture eased a little bit, though as soon as he was in the office and the door closed, it was obvious Michael was berating him and he couldn't help but frown as Dwight sunk into a chair, eyes downcast as Michael invaded his personal space, finger jabbing him in the shoulder. He had a moment to see Dwight glance out at him, that damn helpless look on his face before Michael shut the blinds.

He tried to ignore it, he really did. He worked on his sales but knew that part of his attention was on Michael's office, waiting for Dwight to emerge. It didn't take long before Dwight nearly charged out, face flushed red and jaw clenched.

He dropped into his chair hard enough to shake his desk, and Jim's too. Jim watched his bobble heads going and finally reached out to touch the one nearest to him, stopping it. As he already knew touching any of the bobble heads brought Dwight's attention instantly to him. "Don't touch that."

It made him smile, glad that some things hadn't changed. He liked how they were, liked their banter and didn't want that to change. He leaned back and put his hands up to show he meant no harm. "Sorry."

His eyes stayed on Jim and he visibly calmed down, "It's okay."

He nodded and fought the urge to look towards Michael's office. He wouldn't lie, he was _always_ curious about what happened between the other two in that office with the secrecy and closed blinds, well… no, some things he was sure he didn't want to know. He pushed down the curiosity though, "You okay?"

"What?"

He had tried to make it casual but of course Dwight couldn't make it that easy. He tilted his head in the direction Dwight had come from and he lowered his voice, "Are you okay?"

"Oh." He glanced towards Michael's office, and his face visibly fell, but he didn't give anything else away. "Yes."

"What was that about, huh?"

"I… I'm not supposed to tell." The conflict was plain on his face and Jim really wondered if he told Dwight to tell him which side would win out, if he would listen to him or Michael, but he dropped the thought when he realized quickly that it sounded like something Michael would do to make him prove his loyalty.

"Okay." He looked over him to glare at Michael when he emerged from his office, not that it had any effect on him at all.

"He didn't do anything."

Surprised he looked to Dwight, who was looking hard at his computer. "What?"

He didn't look away but his shoulders tensed. "You don't have to glare at him. He didn't do anything."

"Dwight…" He rubbed his hand over his face, he hated having this conversation. "I can see you when you go in his office, everyone can."

"It's not… it's not like it looks."

He finally just waved a hand, letting it go. Even when he had gotten him drunk Dwight still wouldn't say anything against Michael, and Jim had tried. Dwight stood by that Michael really cared about him and for some reason it make Jim's temper flare.

"He has to go with Jan to a client meeting later."

Jim blinked a few times, wondering where the hell that had come from. He finally processed it and nodded absently, "Yea, I heard that."

He waited for Dwight to say something else, to continue but the other was just going about his work like he hadn't said anything. He started to say something a few times, but finally just chuckled and went back to making his sales calls. There was something just not quite right about Dwight… but he supposed that was what made him Dwight.

* * *

"I want you... to help Dwight play a prank on me."

"What?" Pam gave him an incredulous look, "You're joking."

"No." He looked embarrassed and shifted his weight so he could turn away from the camera, "I just think… it would be good for him." The words were muttered, grudgingly, but he obviously meant them.

There was a quirk of Pam's mouth as she tried to smother her laughter. She wouldn't find Jim's new fascination with being Dwight's friend so entertaining if Jim didn't seem so traumatized by it. Dwight was annoying, true, but relatively harmless and since him and Jim became… friends he had been so much more mellow. Jim's influence she was sure. "What kind of prank?"

"Something simple that he can't screw up. Something good." Her eyes flashed mischievously at that but Jim caught it, "Oh no, not _too _good."

"Of course not." She leaned forward and lowered her voice, "I'm not sure he'll go for it though, he'll worry that you'll be mad."

They exchanged a look at that. Jim hated that it was true. He wasn't sure what exactly had happened but Dwight was too compliant, defaulting to him just like he did Michael. "Tell him I won't be. This will be good for him."

She nodded, "He has seemed kind of down since the whole… Dwigt incident."

That had been it, of course. Yet again when Michael had hurt him, and Jim wondered how Michael could think so little of Dwight and at the same time turn to him more than anyone else. He hadn't even had to have been there for this slight, but that one missed Dwigt had been enough to ruin Dwight's night… and he had been having so much fun being normal with the rest of them too. He shook himself out of it, "So… you'll do it?"

She nodded, barely able to hide her smirk, "Absolutely."


End file.
